Comicon Special

July 10, 2011 at 11:21 am

I’m heading off to the airport in about an hour…

Before I go, though, an advance peek at the cover for the FEVRE DREAM graphic novel, which will be released at the San Diego Comicon in a couple of weeks.

And we have a special offer from Avatar: if anyone pre-orders a copy of the FEVRE DREAM hardcover from them, at the normal cover price, they will be guaranteed a ticket to my signing at the Avatar booth (#2701) on Thursday at 10:00 am. Daniel Abraham, who scripted the adaptation, will be there signing with me. The ticket will allow each holder to get this item plus three of their own signed. (But again, JUST SIGNATURES, no personalizations).

To preorder and get your ticket, go to:

http://www.comcav.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=179_250&products_id=12036

See you in San Diego, true believers. Keep your steam up.

Current Mood: null null

Tags: comic books, conventions, fevre dream, signings

Three Days…

July 9, 2011 at 8:44 pm

… and counting.

Tomorrow I set off on the first leg of my signing tour. My first stop will be… well, I shouldn’t say, since I won’t be doing any public appearances there, just swinging by the Random House warehouse on Monday and signing as many copies of A DANCE WITH DRAGONS as I can manage to sign before catching the Acela to Boston that afternoon. Those copies will go out all over the country, to bookstores that are not on the tour, but have placed substantial orders.

The first public signing is in Boston. Well, Burlington, actually. Look for me at the Barnes & Noble, 98 Middlesex Turnpike, starting at 7pm and going to… well, to when they close the store presumably. I’ll say a few words, take a few questions, and then deface your books.

After Boston, I’ll be at the Union Square B&N in New York City, and then the Carmel B&N in Indianapolis. (Full details on the Appearances page of my website). Then it’s home for a brief respite before I depart for San Diego Comicon and the second leg of the tour.

Please take a look at the post my publisher put up on Suvudu:
http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2011/06/on-tour-george-r-r-martin.html?ref=twt_Suvudu_stream

I don’t want to disappoint anyone, so let me stress again that, because of the size of the crowds that we’re anticipating, I cannot do personalizations or inscriptions at these events. Just straight autographs. I wish that wasn’t so, but it is. And I won’t be able to pose for photographs either, though you’re certainly free to have your friend take a snapshot when I’m signing your book.

The number of items I can sign at each event will depend on the store, the crowd, and other variables.

Be aware, if you head out to one of these, that (1) you may need to wait in line for a very long time, and (2) when you finally reach the front of that line, we’ll only have a few second together, at best. ((The BEST place to actually meet me, or any of your favorite SF or fantasy writers, is not at a booksigning, but at a con. But booksignings are good places to meet other fans. You’ll definitely meet the people in line with you. You’ll be spending hours with ’em, so be friendly. Romances have been known to start waiting in line at booksignings.))

Current Mood: null null

Tags: a dance with dragons, signings

Signing Tomorrow!

July 8, 2011 at 6:36 pm

For the New Mexicans out there… I will be signing copies of the new Wild Cards mosaic novel, FORT FREAK, tomorrow at Page One Bookstore. The signing starts at 2:30 pm and will run till about 5:00 pm, depending…

Also on hand to deface your copies of FORT FREAK will be my assistant editor Melinda M. Snodgrass (Franny Black), John Jos. Miller (Father Squid), and Victor Milan (Ratboy and Flipper). Other Wild Cards contributors may also drop by… and if they do, Page One will have copies of the earlier books in the series for them to scrawl in.

There will also be a brief presentation about Wild Cards, and a Q&A session.

For more details about the signing, check out the Page One website at
http://www.page1book.com/

I should stress that this is a Wild Cards signing. NO COPIES OF DANCE WITH DRAGONS WILL BE ON SALE! I may be able to autograph some of your Ice & Fire books, if time permits, but probably not more than one, and only with a purchase of FORT FREAK. And in the talk and the Q&A session, we’ll be talking about Wild Cards, not the new Ice & Fire book or the HBO show. Sorry, but to let GAME OF THRONES take over the session would not be fair to the other writers.

So drop on in to Page One, and pay a visit to Fort Freak.

Current Mood: null null

Tags: signings, tor, wild cards

The Maid of Tarth

July 7, 2011 at 10:29 pm

I see you guys are just as sharp as ever. The long layoff between first and second season casting hasn’t made you rusty. Once again, you nailed my obscure hints within minutes.

Well, okay, I did fool a few of you. For a couple minutes, anyway. But others correctly puzzled out the casting. The part of Brienne, Maid of Tarth, will be played by British actress GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE.

This was another one of those cases where there was hardly any debate. The day the first batch of auditions went up for the role, we looked at a dozen actresses who were reading for Brienne and one actress who WAS Brienne. Gwendoline gave a great reading, and her look was just perfect. No, when she auditioned, she did not look she does in the photo above. She came in looking… well, like Brienne.

As for my clues… Christie played in a music video called DAMARIS, which includes a song about Isabelle, the She-Wolf of France (wife of King Edward II, for the history nerds out there), and played in Shakespeare’s CYMBELINE at the Barbican theatre. She also posed for Australian photographed Polly Borland for a show called “Bunny.”

She also appears in the recent IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSAS, though I did not use that one in my clues.

Gwendoline will be a great Brienne. It’s a thrill to have her join the cast.

Congratulations to everyone who figured it out… and for those who guessed wrong, well, better luck next time.

Current Mood: null null

Tags: game of thrones, hbo

I’m Blue

July 7, 2011 at 5:16 pm

The she-wolf of France has stormed the barbican. The Aussie turned her into a bunny.

Current Mood: null null

Tags: game of thrones, hbo

Five Days…

July 7, 2011 at 9:35 am

… till Kong is loosed upon the world.

Feels strange, after so many years. I know that some of you thought I would never finish. Believe me, there were dark nights of the soul where I had my doubts as well. But now the day is almost at hand, and the dragons will fly.

In fact, they are already taking wing. Bantam informs me that DANCE has just gone back for its 6th hardcover printing, and it isn’t even on sale yet. The first reviews are breaking today, and so far (knock wood) they have all been great. And in the UK, Waterstone’s in Glasgow has put up a brilliant window display:

Exciting times.

Current Mood: null null

Tags: a dance with dragons

Working Away

July 5, 2011 at 7:16 pm

One more monkey down.

Today I delivered the first draft of “Blackwater” to Dan and David. (Finally) A bit overdue, as always. And probably too long and long expensive, as my scripts always are. (I got to write the Battle of the Blackwater. I tried to be good and restrain myself, but you know how things go. Oh, well. I knew the job was dangerous when I took it).

This is television… (no, it’s not TV, it’s HBO)… so there will undoubtedly be many further drafts and revisions. But the first draft is the hard one.

And it’s a good thing it’s done. On Sunday I leave for the first leg of my US book tour.

Current Mood: null null

Tags: game of thrones, hbo, scriptwriting

Should Math Be Taught in Schools?

July 4, 2011 at 7:12 pm

<lj-embed id=”188″/>

((Sad to say, this parody is hardly exaggerated at all. A few of the answers are almost verbatim to the actual answers of the Miss USA contestants to “Should Evolution Be Taught in Schools.” Go watch that video on YouTube and see for yourself)).

(((There are days I think I am living in the world of Kornbluth’s “Marching Morons.” Just look at reality TV, and remember the hit show in his story)))

(((I am vastly pleased that the eventual Miss USA winner, and GAME OF THRONES fan, does “believe in evolution.” And presuambly in math as well))).

Current Mood: null null

Tags: humor, politics

I’m Number One…

July 4, 2011 at 11:12 am

… and also number four, number six, and number eight.

http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2011-07-10/mass-market-paperback/list.html

When GAME OF THRONES was first published in 1996, it failed to make any bestseller lists (well, maybe it made the LOCUS list, don’t recall), and certainly never got within shouting distance of the Top Ten in the TIMES. While I still recall the highlights (Joe Beth in Lexington, Kentucky and Kepler’s in Menlo Park, California) of that first signing tour, I recall the lowlights even better — the St. Louis signing where the only four people in the cafe/ bookstore actually LEFT when I got up to speak, and the Dallas signing where I drew a dozen people while Clifford the Big Red Dog drew hundreds. And here we are, fifteen years later, with GAME at number one on the list. Where’s that dog now, I want a rematch!

Thanks to David and Dan and HBO, they had a lot to do with this.

And thanks to you, my readers, as well. No promotion, no advertising, no marketing campaign can ever hope to match word of mouth. Without the loyalty and enthusiasm of my fans, none of this would ever have happened.

I hope you all have a great Fourth. It’s certainly going to be a good one for me.

Current Mood: null null

Tags: a song of ice and fire, game of thrones

Stuff and Nonsense

July 2, 2011 at 11:12 am

Just flipped over the page on my World Wildlife Fund calendar (a day late, sue me), and was amused to see that the featured animals for July are gorillas. Nothing could be more fitting for the month in which Kong is finally loosed upon the reading public. heh

On other fronts… I mentioned below that WARRIORS won the Locus Award as the best anthology of 2010, which pleased me no end… but I forgot to mention that Gardner Dozois and I have just signed with Tor for a sequel of sorts. A mammoth crossgenre book featuring contributions from an all-star lineup of award-winning writers and bestsellers from half a dozen different genres and subgenres. This one has the working title DANGEROUS WOMEN. Whether that will be the final title or not, I am less sure. Must admit, I do not love it; too generic for my taste. I wanted to call the book FEMMES FATALE, but our editor suggested that no one younger than forty would have any idea what that phrase meant. Which boggles the hell out of me, but what do I know? Could be we’ll settle on WOMEN WARRIORS. Though that’s limiting in a different sort of way. But whatever title it goes by in the end, it should be a helluva anthology. We have some great writers lined up, as we did with WARRIORS.

And yes, DANGEROUS WOMEN will include the fourth Dunk & Egg novella, the long-promised tale of their visit to the North, where they encounter the She-Wolves of Winterfell. I could tell you more than that, but then I’d need to kill you.

Meanwhile, Ice & Fire continues its slow conquest of the world, nation by nation and language by language. I’ve just signed a deal for Turkish editions, and we’re negotiating with a Vietnamese publisher as well.

And my US book tour is coming up fast, so these days have been busy ones. At the moment I am finishing up the first draft of my script for the second season of the HBO series, hammering out the overplot of the new Wild Cards book LOWBALL, and of course doing what seems like ten interviews a day. Would that there were four of me.

These are exciting days.

Current Mood: null null

Tags: a dance with dragons, a song of ice and fire, anthologies, dunk & egg, foreign editions

Not a Blog

Comicon Special

Three Days…

Signing Tomorrow!

The Maid of Tarth

I’m Blue

Five Days…

Working Away

Should Math Be Taught in Schools?

I’m Number One…

Stuff and Nonsense

Latest Month

Recent Posts

Syndicate